Hezbollah wants Lebanon to strain its relations with Germany, because the German
Chancellor linked the presence of her country's troops to the defense of
Israel's existence. The Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah,
denounced Tony Blair's visit to Beirut, condemning it in the strongest terms,
because Britain had taken an inappropriate stand during the war. In turn, France
seems to be repugnant to Hezbollah, which does not conceal its hatred toward it
because it accuses the French of being hostile to the Movement. Naturally, the
US is the 'Great Satan', which Israel, according to Nasrallah, was carrying out
its desire to eradicate Hezbollah!

If these criticisms are taken one by one, some of them may probably reflect
some truth. But when they are taken collectively, they will only mean a call to
isolate Lebanon from the Western powers and turn itself, willingly, into a rogue
country in the eyes of the West.

However, Hezbollah does not conceal its desire to strain Lebanon's relations
with Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan as well, because they disapproved of
Hezbollah and its war. In this way, the Lebanese government is required to
pursue a policy opposed to some of the largest and most influential and capable
Arab countries. If we add Turkey, the prominent regional force in the Middle
East, the self-isolation will be complete.

In other words, Hezbollah wants Lebanon to burn its bridges with the Arabs,
the Turks and the West simultaneously. This is at a time when the Lebanese are
in dire need of economic, financial and political support from all of them,
hoping to overcome the disasters inflicted on them by Hezbollah's war with the
Israelis.
Here, too, we glimpse another aspect of the disasters caused by Hezbollah.
Lebanon will lose much of its value if it is not on the best terms with the
Arabs and the West. Lebanon always aspired to be a model for openness and
cooperation. This era, described by some as an age of the 'clash of
civilizations', gives its traditional aspiration a higher sense of urgency. But
what is suggested is that the country should not be the total sum of two
positive elements; on the contrary, it should be the total sum of two negative
ingredients and two ruptures. This suggestion is inherently fatal, not only to
what the country is worth, but also to its economy, education, enlightenment,
and to everything that closely or remotely relates to it.

In this way, Hezbollah is hastening the creation of the totalitarian State,
where the state obeys the party without any hesitation. Its President (a
Podgorny, Ahmadinejad, Emile Lahoud, or perhaps Michel Aoun) will be just the
executor of the wishes of the Secretary General or the Guide (a Brezhnev,
Khamenei or perhaps Hassan Nasrallah). This is because totalitarian ruling party
makes the interests of the country subservient to its own, and sees things from
its own perspective. Accordingly, Hezbollah wants to guide the State into
adopting a futile policy, which it would have to adopt in light of the party's
quandary in the Arab and Western worlds. Lebanon, whose people have never been
unanimous over Hezbollah's war, should not be interested in punishing itself
twice: once because of Hezbollah, and another because of its solidarity with it.

However, these visions are very remote from 'innocent' ideological
perceptions. When Lebanon's relations with Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Jordan,
Turkey, the US, France, Germany and Britain collapse, it will have ties with
only Syria and Iran (and, of course, Qatar ). Thus, an isolated, despotic
country will join hands with two other isolated, despotic countries. If its
people face starvation, they will eat rockets, and if they need ideas they will
be provided with the principle of the Velayate Faqih (the governance of the
learned Islamic scholar). If we remember that Hezbollah's perspective on the
domestic front is as intolerant as its attitude toward the outside world, and if
we adhere to the Movement's views, we will end up besieged of our own free will
like Hamas, or become another isolated Cuba, where people run away and the
intelligentsia is imprisoned.

Was it for this purpose that Emile Lahoud visited Havana? Does he hope to
bring to his allies some 'useful' lessons from that experience, which might end
up a Lebanese future?